I don't know how many times reality needs to validate the inherent fallacy of "Building Partner Capacity" as adopted in recent years by the US Military.

We are not the British Colonial Office, we are not seeking to secure the British Empire; and it is not 1914 - yet we pursue this line of illogic as if all those things were true.

We should focus on developing our own understanding, relationships and influence among the populations, governments and places where our truly vital interests manifest most. And then we need to learn to accept a degree of risk in terms of who might rise to power in those places in any particular time, or what form of governance might be employed for some period as well. So long as we are in a position of understanding and influence we are unlikely to be overly put out by any temporary rise of some brand of governance that offends our idea of what right looks like.

But in an era where people and countries everywhere are working to be more like themselves, it is an unwise to invest in security capabilities and capacities that are intended to conform them to US perspectives and interests.

It is time to move on to a better model, one more attuned to the world as it actually exists, rather than one attuned for a world long relegated to the annals of history.